


Coda

by tyde07



Category: Subarashiki Kono Sekai | The World Ends With You
Genre: Gen, POV Second Person, all dialogue directly from canon lol, i havent written anything seriously since like 2013 dont judge me too hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2020-06-02 05:08:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19434562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tyde07/pseuds/tyde07
Summary: The finale, from the antagonist's point of view.





	Coda

Your Conductor has been defeated. It’s time for you to enter, stage right. Your Proxy _is_ here to challenge the Composer, after all. You adjust your frequency to be visible to all of the occupants of the room, whom you’d been watching with interest. It’s all been very entertaining.

For the benefit of your Pick, you’ve chosen to tune yourself down into a very human form, rather than to your more comfortable higher frequency. There’s not much point in this dramatic reveal if he can’t recognize you, after all.

“I’m back, Megumi.” You say, casual. Neku jumps at your voice, a jolt through him almost as violent as the bullet that killed him. He turns toward you, and starts saying your name, but you ignore him. “Your timer must be nearly ticked out.” You continue, eyes trained squarely on your own reflection in Megumi’s shades. Neku, horribly human, has no idea how loud and cacophonous his confusion makes the Music in this room. Megumi pauses only for a second, quickly understanding your current form and your appearance the previous week.

“No, Sir!” Megumi says, irreverent as always, but near his limit. You love to push people to the edge like this. It’s when they are at their least predictable. “I’m not done, not yet!” He reaches out, and you grin, surprised at his boldness. He intends to power up his Noise form using your energy? The irony that you would be indirectly killing your own Proxy! He also takes a moment to trap Neku’s two other partners, likely hoping to prevent him from benefiting from their Pacts. But it won’t work. Neku’s Soul is too strong for the connection to his partners to be stopped by something so simple as a physical barrier.

And you’re more than happy to lend him a hand yourself when he reaches out to you with his heart to strike Megumi down.

You’re mildly astonished that he’s able to pull himself back together after taking such a hit, but perhaps your leeched power had protected him. Nonetheless, he’s pale and sweaty on the concrete and looking quite a bit less put together than you’ve seen him in a very long time. It’s cute. 

“It seems I’ve won.” You say with a giggle. 

“NOOOOOO!” He cries, his despair echoing around your large throne room. “It can’t end like this. Who else will protect Shibuya?” He checks the timer on his hand, down to about 30 seconds. 

“Why does HE have a timer?” Neku says in disbelief, his partners tense beside him. You smile benignly, still not directly acknowledging them.

“Then… You’ll do as You intended?” Megumi asks, tired and defeated.

You finally spare a second to meet Neku’s eyes, and smirk.

“You’re going to erase it…” Megumi laments as he watches the seconds tick away. “The streets I know and love, gone…”

“You did well, Megumi.” You say, sincerely. “That was one of my more enjoyable games.”

A smile ghosts across his features, and he lifts his head to look upon You one last time. “I gave it my all, Sir.” He says. “I have no regrets.”

“You know, I liked your idea.” To settle the endless din of chaos by imprinting a single thought upon every person in Shibuya… it’s a wonder the idea never occurred to you before now. “Shame it didn’t work out.”

“You gave me a wonderful opportunity.” He says as he begins to fade into the music. His timer must be at zero. “Thank you, Sir.” And then he is gone, and the only sound is the breath of the three Players, fast from adrenaline. The blond one looks ready to fight you, and the girl squeezes her stuffed animal in her hands like a stress ball. They have no idea how little a threat the pose.

Neku has your full attention now, with Megumi erased. His mind swirls with questions, and with denial. He’s figured it out, but refuses to follow the thought to its conclusion. You just need to give him a little push.

“Joshua? What’s going on?” He asks, desperate for an explanation other than the obvious. It’s sweet, how much he wants to believe you aren’t the bad guy here. You feel… something, but there’s no time to examine your emotions now, and it likely won’t matter at all in a few minutes anyways.

“All of this was a Game.” You say, flippant. “One set up by me.” It’s important to project that all of this has absolutely no stakes for you. For Neku to understand you to be beyond redemption. That he needs to kill you.

“What? Then that means you’re…” His mind is racing, and you’re getting bored. He’s smarter than this. Why doesn’t he want to acknowledge that you’ve been playing him?

“Let me make it obvious.” You say, eyes flicking to the two humans standing at Neku’s side. The fact that they’ve made it to your Room of Reckoning at all is a testament to how powerfully Neku’s will shapes the Music around him. He has no idea. He'll make a great Composer. “Hmm… I suppose they’ll serve.” You say, and with almost no effort at all, the girl and the skater are immobilized.

“Wh-what’s happening?” Shiki says, shuddering against the force holding her in place. You would feel bad, considering she’s been in entry fee purgatory for nearly two weeks, except that you don’t care at all, and are actually kind of grateful that she served as such strong motivation. 

“I can’t… move… yo…” Says Beat, grimacing. He probably could free himself through willpower alone were you a regular Reaper, surprisingly strong, but not worth much, compared to Neku’s Soul, shining brightly before you.

“Shiki? Beat!?” He’s so easily distracted, so very human. He can’t keep his eyes on the bigger picture. You giggle, and his focus snaps back to you. 

“Hee hee… It was me, Neku. I’m Shibuya’s Composer.” There, now that you’ve spelled it out for him, surely he’ll be willing to kill you.

“What? But that… can’t be…” He says, hurt blooming in his heart the way blood had spread across his shirt three weeks ago. But it is still dulled by his refusal to admit all the implications of your reveal. You’re bored of being gentle.

“I know that must unsettle you. Especially since we spent all that quality time together.” You say.  _ Remember, Neku? How much I was toying with you this whole time? _ Yet he still wants to trust you. “Still, it’s the truth, and I need you to face it.” You smirk at him, and his shoulders tense.

“Megumi and I decided to play this Game, to determine if Shibuya should exist or not.” You tell him plainly. Finally, the sharp rhythm of anger begins to rise out of him. His eyes harden, but there’s still disbelief in them, some inexplicable hope that he hasn’t been utterly betrayed.

“Then everything I’ve done…” He says slowly. “All of it…”

“Mm-hmm.” You confirm, smirking even as he curls his hands into fists. “You were playing for my team. Really, you did a bang-up job. I couldn’t have won without you.” It’s a sincere compliment, but that’s lost on the boy, standing before him, so very, very human. 

“Then… What have I done!?” He says, despairing at the thought that he’s doomed his home. But you’re about to give him the chance to save it. And he’ll take that chance, you’re sure of it, and he will kill you. Everything exactly to plan.

“I had one role in this Game: picking the Player who would play for me. One person… from the RG.”

Neku searches your face, desperate for a way for what you’re saying to mean anything else. “...Me?” He asks, knowing the answer. You giggle.

“Very sharp, Neku. Give yourself a hand.” You say, only half sincere. “I knew I picked a winner.”

“But it was Pi-Face that killed me.” Neku protests. Ah, yes. His memory. You’d forgotten about that.

“His bullet was meant for me.” You tell him, a bit annoyed you have to explain such a trivial matter at all. “For some time he’s been after my seat. Maybe he thought I could be killed in the RG-- a gross miscalculation.” You pause, smirking at your own little math reference. “The Composer, unlike the Reapers, can use some of their power in the living world. So, poor Minamimoto failed, and fled back to the UG. But I like keeping him around. He really knows how to heat up a Game!” You laugh, and Neku thinks you might be unhinged. Good.

“Unfortunately, he overheated this time. So I had to retire him early.” You didn’t kill him. The Angels surely would prefer to study such an anomaly directly. But he’s good and down, for the time-being.

“Then, you’re the one who beat him?” It’s not a question, really, and Neku is searching his fractured memory for a way to make sense of the story you’re telling. You click your tongue.

“Why, yes! You’re just as sharp as a tack, Neku.” Definitely sarcastic, this time. You do like him, though. In different circumstances, if you weren’t planning on retiring, he might have made an excellent long-term conversational partner. You could have recruited him as a Reaper, and he surely would have worked his way up to be your Conductor in short order. You smile at the thought.

“Anyways, the pest followed me everywhere-- Even into the RG when I went to get you!”

He gasps, the puzzle pieces finally slotting into place. “Into the RG? Wait…. No!” You laugh.

“Why don’t I return all the memories I’ve been holding on to?” You say. This will surely tip him past the edge, into that indignation that’s been simmering underneath his disbelief. Yes, it’s time for Neku to take his vengeance.

He cries out in pain as you rewrite the few bars of blank space left in his Music. Mortals are so fragile. There’s a part of you that wants to apologize, to say that his piercing headaches are just a consequence of his humanity (which is soon to be over anyways.) But no. That would be counter-intuitive to your goal of getting him to shoot you.

He grunts, hands at his temples, and takes a step back. Then, breathing hard, he glares at you. “It was you!” He’s finally truly angry, betrayed. Hurt. Not quite what you were going for, but you can work with it. “I thought…. I thought I finally found a friend I could relate to… But it was YOU!” His voice cracks. “You killed me!” You can’t help but laugh.

“Now, Neku, why don’t we play one last Game?” You ask, as if he has any choice in the matter. With a simple thought, you summon two revolvers. One in your hand, the other at Neku’s feet.

“You tricked me…” He says weakly, eyeing the gun in front of him.

You ignore him. The time for holding his hand is past. “The winner gets to be the Composer,” you continue, “and do whatever they like with Shibuya.”

He stares at you, wound up like a spring. “If you win, you decide,” you explain. “If I win, I’ll decide.” You smile dangerously. A threat. The last push he should need, to save himself, his friends, his city. To kill you. But he doesn’t move.

“...Of course, I’ve already decided.” You remind him. Why is he hesitating, still?

“You’re a monster…” He says, but he’s all bark and no bite. Why is he hesitating, when you’re giving him such an easy out?

“Neku? You’d better pick up that gun.” You patience is running thin. It’s been a long Game. This was meant to be the easy part. “I mean, this IS going to be a duel.”

He steels himself, eyes hardening, and slowly bends to pick up the weapon in his trembling hands. But he doesn’t raise it.

“I’ll keep the rules extremely basic.” You say, one last patronizing statement. Neku should hate you. Why doesn’t he? “I’m going to count down from ten. On zero, we shoot.” You pause, and smirk at him. “See? Easy.” With those rules, he doesn't even _need_ to kill you, which he's made it obvious he isn't willing to do. He just needs to shoot you.

“Don’t screw with me, Joshua!” He spits, fingers tight on the grip of his gun.

“I assure you, I’m not.” The stakes couldn’t be higher for him, or lower for you. All you need to do is lose. “Life’s little crossroads are often as simple as the pull of a trigger.”

He bares his teeth at you, heart burning with uncertainty. You narrow your eyes, wondering if he'll realize that you aren’t planning on shooting when you reach zero.

“Neku…” You giggle. “Your face is priceless. Don’t you remember what Mr. Hanekoma told you?” There’s a buzzing behind your ears. Why is this going so wrong?

“I’m just…” Neku says, but you cut him off.

“Oh, before I forget! I’ve collected your entry fee.” You say, as if it's some trivial matter. There's no way for you to lose your status as Composer, except a Game. Really, _that's_ what he considers important, right now? Being able to distance himself from humanity will only benefit him.

“Now… Let the game begin.” You say, and begin to count down.

When you hit 8, tears are rolling down his face. By 6, he’s grit his teeth, and raises his gun with shaking arms. By three, he has you in his sights. You’ve been pointing your own evenly at him since you started counting. At two, he sobs, and at one, his gun drops. You laugh, in surprise, in disbelief, in absolute shock. He really isn’t going to shoot you. What the hell?

You even give him an extra second after you say zero before you pull the trigger. This is so ridiculous. He was supposed to kill you. Your bullet hits him in the same place your first one had. Your head is buzzing, and your stomach is filled with some sort of feeling you don’t want to examine, and time slows down around you. You suppose it’s time to raze Shibuya’s UG, and start from scratch.

“Hey, boss.” Hanekoma says. “I told ya your Game was gonna twist in a way you weren’t ready for.” He’s been in the room the whole time, of course, observing from a higher frequency. Asshole. You're going to have to get him back for that Taboo bullshit. You laugh, and laugh, and make a decision.

Shibuya can still surprise you, after all this time. People can still surprise you. You guess you can leave your UG the way it is, for now. And Neku…. Well, he’s won the Reaper’s Game three times in a row. He and his friends have earned their tickets back to the RG.

You haven’t felt this emotion in a very long time. You think it might be regret. It’s definitely regret. But you still laugh.


End file.
